CN114930893A

CN114930893A - Resource unit sharing

Info

Publication number: CN114930893A
Application number: CN202180008128.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 穆克什·塔内贾; 苏迪尔·K·贾因
Original assignee: Cisco Technology Inc
Current assignee: Cisco Technology Inc
Priority date: 2020-01-24
Filing date: 2021-01-22
Publication date: 2022-08-19
Also published as: EP4094468A1; WO2021151116A1; US11375411B2; US20210235327A1

Abstract

Resource Unit (RU) sharing between access points in a wireless network is provided by: identifying a first Access Point (AP) associated with a first user device, wherein the first AP has won contention for an RU; identifying a second AP associated with a second user device, wherein the first user device and the second user device are located within an overlapping area served by the first AP and the second AP; identifying an unused portion of an RU to which the first AP has not scheduled traffic between the first AP and the first user equipment; and allocating the unused portion to a second AP for communication between the second AP and a second user equipment.

Description

Resource unit sharing

Technical Field

Embodiments presented in this disclosure relate generally to wireless transmission management. More particularly, embodiments disclosed herein relate to managing allocation of Resource Units (RUs) such that unused portions of the reserved RUs are available for reservation by additional devices. Although the present disclosure generally provides examples of RUs that do not specify a length of time and an unspecified number of subchannels or subcarriers (where a given RU may be a different length of time or a different number of subchannels than a subsequent RU), the present disclosure may be applicable to networking standards or deployments that apply a specified length of time or a specified number of subchannels or subcarriers to all or a portion of RUs.

Background

Wireless Access Points (APs) operating on the same spectrum reserve time and blocks of spectrum to communicate with user devices so that communications do not overlap and interfere with each other. These blocks of time and spectrum are commonly referred to as RUs, and a given communication specification may define RUs to include various subchannels and sub-times for a particular communication task. For example, two uplink communications may occur simultaneously on different subchannels within an RU, or at different times on the same subchannel. The AP communicates allocations for various times and channels to its associated user equipment so that the user equipment honors the allocation selected by the AP for a given RU. In various embodiments, when two or more APs are adjacent to each other, each AP may want to use the same RU. An RU may be won through a contention process or allocated by a central network controller so that two APs do not attempt to use the same portion of spectrum at the same time.

Drawings

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the disclosure, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate typical embodiments and are therefore not to be considered limiting; other equally effective embodiments are also contemplated.

Fig. 1A and 1B illustrate networked environments according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2A and 2B illustrate RU allocation for multiple access communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 is a flow diagram of a method for RU sharing according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 4 is a flow diagram of a method for RU sharing according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 is a flow chart of a method for RU sharing according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates hardware of a computing device in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure.

To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one embodiment may be beneficially utilized on other embodiments without specific recitation.

Detailed Description

SUMMARY

Aspects of the invention are set out in the independent claims and preferred features are set out in the dependent claims. Features of one aspect may be applied to any aspect alone or in combination with other aspects.

One embodiment presented in the present disclosure provides a method for RU sharing, the method comprising: reserving, by a first Access Point (AP), an RU for use in an environment comprising an overlapping area served by the first AP and a second AP; allocating traffic between a first user equipment and a first AP in an RU; sending an invitation to the second AP identifying an unused portion of the RU; assigning a sub-portion of the unused portion to a second AP; and transmitting traffic to the first user equipment during the RU.

One embodiment presented in the present disclosure provides a method for RU sharing, the method comprising: receiving, at a first Access Point (AP), an invitation from a second AP, the second AP having reserved a channel for a period of time, to share an unused portion of the channel during the period of time; retaining the subsection during the unused portion, wherein the subsection begins after the beginning of the time period and ends at or before the end of the time period; and allocating traffic associated with the first AP to the subdivision.

One embodiment presented in the present disclosure provides a method for RU sharing, the method comprising: identifying a first Access Point (AP) associated with a first user equipment, wherein the first AP has won contention for a Resource Unit (RU); identifying a second AP associated with a second user device, wherein the first user device and the second user device are located within an overlapping area served by the first AP and the second AP; identifying an unused portion of an RU to which the first AP has not scheduled traffic between the first AP and the first user equipment; and allocating the unused portion to a second AP for communication between the second AP and a second user equipment.

Example embodiments

The present disclosure provides improvements in channel usage such that network deployments with more than one AP may more efficiently use the available bandwidth for communication. An AP that has won or allocated an RU informs neighboring APs of any availability within the RU that the AP is willing to share. For example, the first AP may tell the second AP (directly or through a manager application) to go from time t ₁ To t ₃ Reserving an RU occupying channel 1, but the first AP is scheduled to use subchannels 1-4 only; although the first AP has reserved the RUs, the second AP may use sub-channels 5-9. For example, the second AP may then start from time t ₂ To t ₃ Sub-channels 5-9 are used so that the bandwidth in sub-channels 5-9 does not become unused. In addition, the first AP may allow access to the sub-channel for a subset of the reserved time, such that the first AP may use the given sub-channel during one time period, while the second AP may use the sub-channel during a different time period.

In Wi-Fi (e.g., the 802.11 family of standards established by the IEEE (institute of electrical and electronics engineers)) and other contention-based networking standards, each device contends for access to the transmission medium. When a device "wins" a contention for access to a transmission medium, the device may schedule transmissions to/from one or more other devices. Further, the time period won may be consistent between the races (e.g., each winning device is assigned X milliseconds (ms) of access to the transmission medium), or may be variable between different races.

Fig. 1A and 1B illustrate a networked environment 100 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, a plurality of APs 110a-c (collectively referred to as APs 110) serve various User Devices (UDs) 120a-g (collectively referred to as UDs 120) located within a range 130a-c (collectively referred to as ranges 130) of the respective APs 110 a-c. As shown, the range 130 defines several overlap regions 140a-d (collectively overlap regions 140), where UDs 120 located in the overlap regions 140 may communicate with more than one AP 110. Instead, some UDs 120 are located within a range 130 (i.e., not in overlap region 140) and may therefore communicate directly with an AP 110.

For example, as shown in FIG. 1A, a first UD 120a located in a first overlap region 140a is located in first through third ranges 130a-c and may transmit signals to and receive signals from first through third APs 110 a-c. Second UD 120b, located in second overlap region 140b, is located in both first range 130a and second range 130b (and not in third range 130 c) and may transmit signals to and receive signals from first AP 110a and second AP 110b (and not to third AP 110 c). Although a given number of APs 110 and UDs 120 are shown in fig. 1A in different locations relative to a range 130 of APs 110, more or fewer APs 110 and UDs 120 may be present in the networking environment 100 and in different locations than shown in fig. 1A.

In another example, as in fig. 1B, a first AP 110a may have a first range 130a, the first range 130a having a first overlap region 140a shared with a second AP 110B and a second overlap region 140B shared with a third AP 110c, where the overlap region 140 is discontinuous. UDs 120 located in overlap regions 140 may be associated with any of APs 110 whose ranges 130 form overlap regions 140. For example, in fig. 1B, both the first UD 120a and the seventh UD 120g in the first overlap region 140a may be associated with (and served by) the first AP 110a or the second AP 110B, or one may be associated with the first AP 110a and the other with the second AP 110B.

In some embodiments, scheduler 150 (e.g., a network controller) communicates with AP 110 to manage the shared network provided by AP 110 within the networked environment. Scheduler 150 may be included in AP 110 or may be provided by a separate computing device. In various embodiments, scheduler 150 may communicate with AP 110 via a wired connection (e.g., via a wired network interface) or may communicate with AP 110 via wireless communication (e.g., via control frame messages). Example hardware that may be included in scheduler 150 is discussed in more detail with respect to fig. 6.

The AP 110 may include various networking devices configured to communicate in accordance with various networking standards or Radio Access Technologies (RATs) (e.g., IEEE 802.11 or "WiFi" networks,

Networks, "cellular" (including various generations and subtypes thereof, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and fifth generation new radio (5G NR)) networks, Citizen Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) networks, proprietary networks) to provide wireless networks. Example hardware that may be included in the AP 110 is discussed in more detail with respect to fig. 6.

Similarly, UD 120 may comprise any computing device configured to wirelessly connect to one or more APs 110. Example UDs 120 may include, but are not limited to: smart phones, feature phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, internet of things (loT) devices, and the like. Example hardware that may be included in UD 120 is discussed in more detail with respect to FIG. 6.

In accordance with various communication standards used by the AP 110 and UD 120 for wireless communication, transmissions between the AP 110 and UD 120 may be performed in various frequency bands on various channels (and sub-channels) at various times to avoid collisions or interference in the overlap region 140. For example, the first AP 110a, the second AP 110b, and the third AP 110c may each communicate over a shared channel at different times, or may communicate simultaneously (i.e., at shared times) on different channels. Devices in network environment 100 may contend for access (or scheduled access by scheduler 150) to various portions of the available transmission medium, including spectrum and time.

As discussed herein, the portion of spectrum and time won in a contention is referred to as an RU. An RU may include various definition parts related to a preamble (preamble), an inter-frame space, and various protocol data units defined in various standards. However, for ease of understanding, the present disclosure focuses on the RU portion for transmitting data (e.g., payload) between AP 110 and UD 120, and one of ordinary skill in the art will be able to apply the formatting, error correction/mitigation, and spacing specified by the relevant standards. Although the present disclosure generally provides examples of RUs that do not specify a length of time or an unspecified number of subchannels or subcarriers (where a given RU may be a different length of time or a different number of subchannels than a subsequent RU), the present disclosure may be applicable to networking standards or deployments that apply a specified length of time or a specified number of subchannels or subcarriers to all or a portion of RUs.

Some devices in network environment 100, in response to winning an RU, reserve the RU for separate access to communicate with a single partner (e.g., the first UD 120a in communication with the first AP 110 a). Some other devices in network environment 100 reserve an RU for multiple access communication in response to winning the RU. Multiple access communication assigns various subchannels of an RU for transmitting or receiving multiple data streams to one or more targets during the RU. For example, a first AP 110a may allocate a first subchannel for communication with a first UD 120a and allocate second and third subchannels for communication with a second UD 120 b. Various devices in network environment 100 may select whether the transmission medium is used for single access or multiple access communications and may change between single access or multiple access communications for a given RU. Further, a device may use a given RU for uplink communications, downlink communications, or duplex communications (i.e., both uplink and downlink communications).

Fig. 2A and 2B illustrate RU allocations 200a and 200B, respectively, for multiple access communications, according to embodiments of the disclosure. As shown, RU includes seven subchannels J ₁ -J ₇ And from a start time t ₀ Continues until the end time t ₇ But in various embodiments more or less than 7 subchannels or longer or shorter durations may be included in an RU.

Fig. 2A illustrates a first RU allocation 200a, wherein a first AP 110a that has won a contention or has been scheduled an RU allocates a channel for communicating with one or more devices on various subchannels of the RUAnd (5) transaction. In fig. 2A, the first AP 110a has moved traffic from time t ₀ To t ₇ Is allocated to subchannel J ₁ From time t ₀ To t ₃ Is allocated to subchannel J ₃ From time t ₀ To t ₄ Is allocated to subchannel J ₄ And from time t ₃ To t ₇ Is allocated to subchannel J ₅ Collectively, they are referred to as the RU's allocation portion 210. In contrast, the unused portion 220 refers to those channels or portions of channels to which the first AP 110a has not allocated traffic. In FIG. 2A, unused portion 220 includes a slave time t ₀ To time t ₇ Subchannel J of (a) ₂ From time t ₃ To time t ₇ Sub-channel J of ₃ From time t ₄ To time t ₇ Subchannel J of (a) ₄ From time t ₀ To time t ₃ Sub-channel J of ₅ From time t ₀ To time t ₇ Subchannel J of (a) ₆ And from time t ₀ To time t ₇ Sub-channel J of ₇ 。

In FIG. 2A, subchannel J ₂ 、J ₆ And J ₇ Are idle subchannels because the first AP 110a has not allocated traffic to these subchannels. In contrast, based on subchannel J ₃ 、J ₄ And J ₅ Is allocated, these channels are partially occupied sub-channels, and sub-channel J ₁ Is a fully occupied sub-channel. Both the idle sub-channel and the partially occupied sub-channel represent unused transmission opportunities-either for uplink messages or downlink messages. When a first AP 110a and associated UD 120 do not have enough data to fill all subchannels or when the first AP 110a proposes to share RUs with neighboring APs 110 for load balancing or prioritizing traffic handled by these APs 110, the first AP 110a may leave portions of the RUs unused.

Fig. 2B illustrates a second RU allocation 200B in which the first AP 110a has shared access to RUs with other APs 110 and has scheduled times at which these other APs 110 may transmit or receive communications. In various embodiments, when two or more other APs 110 are adjacent to the first AP 110a, these other APs 110 may contend for access to the unused portion 220 from the first RU allocation 200a or may be scheduled by the first AP 110 (or external scheduler 150) for access to the unused portion 220. Similarly, any unused portion 220 remaining after allowing the second AP 110b to allocate traffic to the unused portion 220 may be available to other APs 110. The unused portion 220 may remain available for sharing until the available bandwidth during the RU is fully allocated, until the duration of any remaining bandwidth is too short for the AP 110 to use, or until the end of the request period.

Comparing fig. 2A and 2B, the allocated portion 210 of traffic handled by the first AP 110a remains the same, but the unused portion 220 has been partially populated with the shared portion 230 and the auxiliary portion 240 of traffic handling other APs 110. Each subdivision of the RU used by other APs 110 is after the start time of the RU (e.g., at time t) ₁ Or later) and ends at or before the end time of the RU (e.g., at time t) ₇ Or before). As will be understood, a subdivision of an RU refers to a portion of the RU that is less than the entire RU.

Subchannel J2 illustrates the use of shared portion 230 from a subset of unused portion 220 of fig. 2A. For example, the second AP 110b may use a subset of the available time in the idle sub-channel to send messages to UDs 120 associated with the second AP 110 b. The another UD 120 may be located in a shared region 140 of the first AP 110a and the second AP 110b, or may be located outside of the shared region 140. The allocation of shared portion 230 may leave some subchannels as unused portion 220 (e.g., from time t) ₀ To time t ₁ ). For example, the remaining unused portion 220 may act as a buffer or give the first AP 110a time to invite the second AP 110b to share the sub-channel J2 and give the second AP 110b time to handle the availability of the unused portion 220 and respond.

Subchannel J3 illustrates the use of shared portion 230 from a subset of unused portion 220 of fig. 2A, where the spatial separation of the two APs 110 allows the first AP 110a to share the unused portion of the subchannel with the two APs 110. For example, consider that a second AP 110b attempts to communicate with a second UD 120b and a third AP 110c attempts to communicate with a third UD 120 c. When the third UD 120c and third AP 110c are out of range of the second AP 110b, the messages sent from the second AP 110b will not interfere with (at the intended destination) the messages sent between the third AP 110c and the third UD 120 c. Similarly, when second UD 120b and second AP 110b are out of range of third AP 110c, messages transmitted from third AP 110c will not interfere with (at the intended destination) messages transmitted between second AP 110b and second UD 120 b. Thus, the first AP 110a may simultaneously share a subset of RUs with more than one other AP 110 when the other APs 110 do not interfere with each other or with respective UDs 120. As shown, the shared portion 230 of two different APs 110 may last for different amounts of time.

Subchannels J4 and J5 illustrate that shared portion 230 may be scheduled after the occurrence of allocation portion 210 (as in subchannel J4) or before the occurrence of allocation portion 210 (as in subchannel J5). In embodiments where shared portion 230 precedes allocated portion 210, some subchannels between shared portion 230 and allocated portion 210 may remain unallocated (e.g., from time t) ₂ To time t ₃ ) To act as a buffer between the transmissions of the two APs 110.

Subchannels J6 and J7 illustrate an auxiliary portion 240 in which a first AP 110a sends a message to a UD 120 associated with another AP 110. For example, with respect to subchannel J6, shared portion 230 (e.g., transmitted by second AP 110b) may coincide with auxiliary portion 240 such that both first AP 110a and second AP 110b transmit the same message in common to UDs 120 associated with second AP 110 b. In another example, with respect to subchannel J7, first AP 110a may send a message on behalf of second AP 110b to UD 120 associated with second AP 110b, while second AP 110b does not send the message (e.g., when UD 120 is in overlapping region 140 of first and second APs 110). In various embodiments, messages to be sent in common with or on behalf of the second AP 110b are prior to the start of an RU (e.g., at time t) ₀ Previously) to the first AP 110 via a wired connection or a wireless connection. In some embodiments, when a message is transmitted over a wireless connection for transmission in the secondary portion 240, the message is transmitted on a different channel than the channel occupied by the RU.

Each subset of RUs (e.g., allocation portion 210, shared portion 230, and auxiliary portion 240) used to process traffic may process uplink or downlink communications, and the direction of communications on one subchannel may be different from the direction of communications on another subchannel in the same RU. Additionally, communications from one AP 110 may be addressed to one target device as different streams on different sub-channels (e.g., to a single UD 120 via channels J1, J3, J4, and J5), or may be addressed to several target devices (e.g., to a first UD 120a via channel J1 and to a second UD 120b via channels J3, J4, and J5).

Fig. 3 is a flow diagram of a method 300 for RU sharing according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The method 300 begins at block 310 in response to the first AP 110a reserving an RU (and thus having priority for a channel or frequency band for a known period of time). In various embodiments, the first AP 110a reserves RUs through a contention process with other APs 110 in the network environment 100, or may be allocated RUs by a scheduler managing the APs 110. During contention, the first AP 110a requests an RU based on requirements of the UD 120 associated with the first AP 110 a. In some embodiments, the controller or scheduler 150 also evaluates performance parameters of APs 110 adjacent to the first AP 110a when determining whether to allocate an RU to the first AP 110a to determine that the adjacent AP 110 is also ready to transmit/receive data and is able to share the RU with the first AP 110a (e.g., after completing the current transmission/reception). When a neighboring AP 110 is able to share an RU and there is data to send/receive, scheduler 150 may decide to allocate a larger RU to the first AP 110a than originally requested by the first AP 110a, thereby providing additional time and/or bandwidth in the RU to share with the neighboring AP 110 to send/receive data during the RU.

At block 320, the first AP 110a allocates the RU reserved in block 310 for multiple access communication, where several subchannels of the RU may be allocated for communication with several different devices. Conversely, the AP 110 may also allocate RUs for individual access, where RUs are used to communicate with another device (e.g., to send messages to or receive messages from one UD 120 or another AP 110).

At block 330, the first AP 110a allocates traffic to the subchannels of the multiple-access RUs. In various embodiments, traffic allocation may be for one or both of uplink communications (to the first AP 110a) or downlink communications (from the first AP 110a), and traffic to/from a given target may be allocated to one or more subchannels in an RU.

At block 340, the first AP 110a invites the other APs 110 to use the sub-portion of the RU that is not allocated for processing the traffic of the first AP 110a (i.e., the unused portion 220). In various embodiments, the first AP 110a invites the other APs 110 to share the unused portion 220 by a preamble for an RU broadcast by the first AP 110a to all devices. For example, the first AP 110 may broadcast the allocation portion 210 to the target devices in the RU preamble, and other APs 110 that have received the RU preamble interpret the gap in the allocation portion 210 as contention or an invitation to request use of the unused portion 220. In some embodiments, the invitation is sent to the other AP 110 as a specific message (wirelessly or via a wired connection) identifying the unused portion 220 to the other AP 110. In general, the invitation identifies the start time of the RU, the end time of the RU (the duration from the start time or the specified time to the end), and any available time span on one or more subchannels, so that other APs 110 may identify available subchannels no earlier or longer than the available time of the RU. In other words, the shared portion 230 of the RU starts after the start of the RU and ends at or before the end of the RU.

In various embodiments, when a first AP 110a invites another AP 110 to share an RU won by the first AP 110a, the invited AP 110 may decide (and indicate to the first AP 110a or scheduler 150) at or before the time the RU starts, or at a time during the RU. For example, both the second AP 110b and the third AP 110c may be invited from time t ₀ To time t ₈ The RU won by the first AP 110a is shared. The second AP 110b may be at time t ₀ Or previously indicates that the second AP 110b will retain the unused portion 220 (e.g., from time t) ₁ To time t ₄ ) As a shared portion. However, the third AP 110c may be at time t ₀ Then determining the future businessThe traffic is allocated to the unused portion 220 of the RU and may be at time t ₃ The shared part 230 is reserved for time t ₅ -t ₈ . For example, the third AP 110c in this example may be at time t ₀ After which priority traffic is received, the transmission is ended on a different channel but at time t ₀ After which there is still data to send/receive, or until time t ₀ The invitation is processed later or the competition for a given unused portion 220 is won. In various embodiments, the first AP 110a or scheduler 150 may schedule the request by keeping the invitation open for a predefined amount of time (e.g., x ms after sending the invitation), allowing the reservation to a given time before the RU's end time (e.g., x ms before the RU's end), or allowing the reservation to a predefined time after the RU's start (e.g., time t) _0+x Then no allocation) to allow other APs 110 to reserve portions of the RU after the RU begins.

In embodiments where the invited AP 110 may retain a portion of an RU after the RU starts, the first AP 110a, scheduler 150, or other AP 110 that has retained a portion of a shared RU, may update the invitation to indicate which portions of the RU are still unused portions 220 and/or which portions are now shared portions 230 or auxiliary portions 240.

In various embodiments, when a given AP 110 (or UD 120) in network environment 100 is only capable of transmitting in a single access mode, first AP 110a may refrain from sending a directed invitation to given AP 110 so that given AP 110 does not attempt to communicate during the RU. In some embodiments, the first AP 110a may send a quiet time period command to the given AP 110 (or UD 120) to request that the given AP 110 not communicate on the channel during RU time.

At block 350, the first AP 110a allocates the available subportions of the RUs to the other APs 110 for multiple access communication. In various embodiments, other APs 110 contend for access to the unused portion 220, and the first AP 110a (or scheduler 150) allocates which sub-portions of the RU are allocated to the other APs 110. In various embodiments, the scheduler 150 of the first AP 110a (that initially wins the RU) may use various policies including giving preference to higher priority traffic (e.g., delay sensitive traffic), higher priority devices (e.g., employees and guests), etc. to break the contention between other APs 110 seeking to share the RU. In various embodiments, shared portion 230 may occupy a free sub-channel or a partially occupied channel (before or after allocation portion 210 occurs). In some embodiments, the same unused portion 220 may be assigned to different APs 110, which different APs 110 serve different UDs 120 that are not located within range 130 of other APs 110. Shared portion 230 may occur on more or fewer subchannels than allocated portion 210 and may last for various durations.

The unused portion 220 of the RU may be shared until the available bandwidth during the RU is fully allocated, until the duration of any remaining bandwidth is too short for the AP 110 to use, or until the end of the request period. For example, in some embodiments, the first AP 110a shares some RUs with the second AP 110b, and then the second AP 110b shares any remaining unused portion 220 with other APs 110. In other words, the second AP 110b may perform parallel iterations of the method 300 using a subset of RUs that are not used by either the first AP 110a or the second AP 110b as unused portions. In some embodiments, the first AP 110a maintains control of a sub-portion of an RU not used by the first AP 110a or the second AP 110b, and the method 300 may return from block 350 to block 340 to invite a third AP 110c (or subsequent APs) to share the RU.

At block 360, the first AP 110a transmits and/or receives communications on the allocation portion 210 of the RU. Similarly, at block 360, the other APs 110 with which the first AP 110a shares access to the RU send and/or receive communications over the shared portion 230 of the RU.

In various embodiments, if a message has been received that the first AP 110a transmits in conjunction with or on behalf of the second AP 110b, the first AP 110a may transmit the message during the auxiliary portion 240 of the RU during block 360. In some embodiments, when the first AP 110a transmits in common with or on behalf of the second AP 110b, the first AP 110a may change the header of the frame to the destination device to indicate that the source of the message is the second AP 110b, even though the first AP 110a transmits the message. In other embodiments, during initial negotiation between UD 120 and APs 110, one or more of APs 110 indicate to a target device that data may be received from a different or multiple APs 110 when UD 120 is located in overlap region 140, and the headers of the frames may remain unmodified (i.e., indicating the actually transmitted AP 110) when first AP 110a is co-transmitted with or transmitted on behalf of second AP 110 b. The method 300 may then end.

Fig. 4 is a flow diagram of a method 400 for RU sharing according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The method 400 begins at block 420 when the second AP 110b receives an invitation to use a shared RU won by the first AP 110a in the shared network environment 100. In various embodiments, the invitation is received as a specific message (e.g., in a control frame) identifying when an RU starts, ends, subchannels, and when these subchannels are unoccupied. In some embodiments, the invitation is received as a preamble of the RU (identifying when the RU starts, ends, and the allocation portion 210 of the RU).

In some embodiments, before block 420 occurs, method 400 includes block 410, where the second AP 110b loses contention for the channel and time occupied by the shared RU. For example, the second AP 110b may contend to use a given channel for at least some of the time occupied by the RU, but the first AP 110a wins the channel and time, and the first AP 110a then shares any unused portion 220 with the second AP 110 b. In other embodiments, the second AP 110b may be invited to use and then share access to the RUs won by the first AP 110a during a time or channel when the second AP 110b was not initially contending, and the method 400 may omit block 410.

At block 430, the second AP 110b reserves a sub-portion of the shared RU that is unoccupied by other APs 110. The second AP 110b may contend for access to the unused portion 220 (whether concurrently or sequentially assigned). In various embodiments, the second AP 110b is granted access to some or all of the unused portion 220 before the third AP 110c is granted access to the unused portion 220, after the third AP 110c is granted access to the unused portion 220, or simultaneously with the third AP 110c being granted access to the unused portion 220. The second AP 110b requests a sub-portion of the shared RU to process traffic, including uplink, downlink, and/or bidirectional traffic, for various UDs 120 associated with the second AP 110 b. In various embodiments, once the second AP 110b has reserved the sub-portion of the RU, the first AP 110a or scheduler 150 prevents the other APs 110 from also reserving the overlapping sub-portion of the RU (unless these APs 110 are serving UDs 120 in non-overlapping ranges 130).

In various embodiments, the reservation of the shared portion 230 by the second AP 110 for processing traffic may occur on a given subchannel that is not allocated portion 210 or is partially idle. On a partially idle subchannel, shared portion 230 may occur before allocation portion 210, after allocation portion 210, or between two allocation portions 210.

At block 440, the second AP 110b allocates traffic to the sub-portion(s) reserved in block 430. In various embodiments, the second AP 110b determines which traffic to assign to the priority of the reserved sub-portion based on the priority of the traffic, which may include delay sensitivity of the traffic, how full a buffer of the traffic is, a priority level or guaranteed service level of the connection, and the like. The second AP 110b transmits an assignment to the respective UD 120 to alert the UD 120 that it is ready to send and/or receive messages on the respective reserved sub-channel at the respective reservation time. In various embodiments, the allocation is transmitted in a wireless broadcast.

Optionally, at block 450, the second AP 110b shares the message to the first AP 110a for transmission on the reserved sub-portion. In some embodiments, the sharing message will be sent by the first AP 110a (rather than the second AP 110b), and the first AP 110a sends the sharing message on behalf of the second AP 110b in the shared portion 230. In some embodiments, the shared message will be jointly transmitted by the first AP 110a and the second AP 110b on the reserved sub-channel at the same time. In various embodiments, the second AP 110b wirelessly shares messages to the first AP 110a on a different channel than the channel occupied by the RU and/or over a wired connection. When the second AP 110b instructs the first AP 110a to send a message on behalf of the second AP 110b or in conjunction with the second AP 110b, the first AP 110a may alter the header of the frame destined for the target device to indicate that the source of the message is the second AP 110 b. In other embodiments, during initial negotiation between UD 120 and APs 110, one or more of APs 110 indicate to a target device that data may be received from a different or multiple APs 110 when UD 120 is located in overlap region 140, and the headers of the frames may remain unmodified (i.e., indicating the actually transmitted AP 110) when first AP 110a is co-transmitted with or transmitted on behalf of second AP 110 b.

At block 460, the second AP 110b transmits and/or receives communications over the shared portion 230 of the RU. Similarly, at block 460, other APs 110 with which the first AP 110a shares access to an RU send and/or receive communications on the allocation portion 210 or the shared portion 230 of the RU. In various embodiments, if a message has been received that the first AP 110a transmits in conjunction with or on behalf of the second AP 110b, the first AP 110a may transmit the message during the auxiliary portion 240 of the RU during block 460. The method 400 may then end.

Fig. 5 is a flow diagram of a method 500 for RU sharing according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The method 500 begins at block 510, where the scheduler 150 (or a master AP 110 in the network environment 100) identifies APs 110 having overlapping ranges 130 and UDs 120 associated with the APs 110. For example, scheduler 150 identifies a first AP 110a associated with a first UD 120a and a second AP 110b associated with a second UD 120b located in an overlap region 140 of the first and second APs 110.

At block 520, scheduler 150 identifies unused portions 220 of RUs won by the first AP 110a, and assigns at least some of these unused portions 220 to the second AP 110b for use as shared portions 230 at block 530, which the second AP 110b may use to communicate with the second UD 120 b. In various embodiments, second AP 110b or scheduler 150 transmits the allocation to second UD 120 b. In some embodiments, scheduler 150 may repeat

blocks

520 and 530 for the subsequent AP 110 to allocate a sub-portion of the RUs that are not used by other APs 110 to the subsequent AP 110 (e.g., a third AP 110 c). In some embodiments, scheduler 150 may provide AP 110a with a larger RU than required by AP 110 after analyzing various performance parameters (e.g., buffer depth of pending packets for devices in overlap region 140), and such over-allocation may allow for increased opportunities for other neighboring APs 110 that also need to service packets in overlap region 140. For example, the scheduler 150 may allocate an RU having a longer duration and/or a greater number of subchannels than the duration and/or subchannels needed by the first AP 110a winning the RU in contention to provide service to UDs 120 associated with the first AP 110a, thereby providing an opportunity to share the unused portion 220 of the RU with one or more neighboring APs 110. Thus, AP 110 may request RUs for a duration of X ms and/or occupy Y channels, but scheduler 150 over-allocates RUs to have a duration of X + a ms and/or Y + B channels to provide additional capacity for sharing by AP 110.

Optionally, at block 540, scheduler 150 sends a quiet period command to one or more APs 110 that are not scheduled for communication during an RU to ensure that these APs 110 do not attempt to communicate on the channel used by the RU for the duration of the RU.

At block 550, scheduler 150 allows AP 110 to transmit or receive communications over the scheduled sub-channels for the scheduled time. The method 500 may then end.

Fig. 6 illustrates hardware of a computing device 600, such as may be used in AP 110, UD 120, or scheduler 150 described in this disclosure. Computing device 600 includes a processor 610, memory 620, and a communication interface 630. Processor 610 may be any processing element capable of performing the functions described herein. Processor 610 is representative of a single processor, multiple processors, a processor having multiple cores, and combinations thereof. Communication interface 630 facilitates communication between computing device 600 and other devices. Communication interface 630 represents a wireless communication antenna and various wired communication ports. Memory 620 may be volatile or non-volatile memory, and may include RAM, flash memory, cache, disk drives, and other computer-readable memory storage devices. Although shown as a single entity, memory 620 may be divided into different memory storage elements, such as RAM and one or more hard disk drives.

As shown, the memory 620 includes various instructions executable by the processor 610 to provide an operating system 621 to manage various functions of the computing device 600, including one or more of the functions and functionalities described in this disclosure, and one or more applications 622 to provide various functions to a user of the computing device 600. Further, the memory 620 includes one or more neighbor lists 623, the neighbor lists 623 indicating which APs 110 are capable of (or are expected to) request or propose sharing an RU. The neighbor list 623 may include details of the neighboring AP 110, such as MAC addresses, signaling capabilities, extensions of the association range 130, etc., to enable the computing device 600 to determine where the overlap region 140 exists, whether the two APs 110 have a continuous range 130, and what information to include in the header or preamble when processing the shared message in the RU's auxiliary portion 240.

In summary, Resource Unit (RU) sharing among access points in a wireless network is provided by: identifying a first Access Point (AP) associated with a first user device, wherein the first AP wins contention for the RU; identifying a second AP associated with a second user device, wherein the first user device and the second user device are located within an overlapping area served by the first AP and the second AP; identifying an unused portion of an RU to which the first AP has not scheduled traffic between the first AP and the first user equipment; and allocating the unused portion to a second AP for communication between the second AP and a second user equipment.

In the present disclosure, reference is made to various embodiments. However, the scope of the present disclosure is not limited to the specifically described embodiments. Rather, any combination of the described features and elements, whether related to different embodiments or not, is contemplated to implement and practice the contemplated embodiments. Further, when an element of an embodiment is described in the form of "at least one of a and B," it should be understood that embodiments including only element a, only element B, and both elements a and B are contemplated. Moreover, although some embodiments disclosed herein may achieve advantages over other possible solutions or over the prior art, whether or not a particular advantage is achieved by a given embodiment does not limit the scope of the disclosure. Thus, the aspects, features, embodiments and advantages disclosed herein are merely illustrative and are not considered elements or limitations of the appended claims except where explicitly recited in a claim(s). Likewise, references to "the invention" should not be construed as a generalization of any inventive subject matter disclosed herein and should not be considered to be an element or limitation of the appended claims except where explicitly recited in a claim(s).

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied as a system, method or computer program product. Accordingly, embodiments may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a "circuit," module "or" system. Furthermore, embodiments may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer-readable media having computer-readable program code embodied in the medium.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for embodiments of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C + + or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a Local Area Network (LAN) or a Wide Area Network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet service provider).

Aspects of the present disclosure are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments presented in the disclosure. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices provide processes for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

In view of the foregoing, the scope of the present disclosure is to be determined by the following claims.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

reserving, by a first Access Point (AP), a Resource Unit (RU) for use in an environment including an overlapping region served by the first AP and a second AP;

allocating traffic between a first user equipment and the first AP in the RU;

sending an invitation to the second AP, the invitation identifying an unused portion of the RU;

assigning a sub-portion of the unused portion to the second AP; and

transmitting the traffic to the first user equipment during the RU.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the invitation identifies:

a start time of the RU;

an end time of the RU; and

available subchannels during the unused portion; and is

Wherein the sub-portion occupies the available sub-channels at a time that starts after the start time and ends at or before the end time.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, further comprising:

during the subportion, concurrently with the second AP sending a message to a second user equipment associated with the second AP, sending the message to the second user equipment by the first AP in common.

4. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, further comprising:

receiving, during the subportion, a message from the second AP for transmission to a second user equipment associated with the second AP; and

sending, by the first AP, the message to the second user equipment on behalf of the second AP.

5. The method of any of claims 1 to 4, further comprising:

allocating, in the RU, traffic between a second user equipment and the first AP; and is

Wherein a first message between the first AP and the first user equipment and a second message between the first AP and the second user equipment are transmitted on different sub-channels at a shared time.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first message is transmitted on a different number of subchannels than the second message.

7. The method of claim 5 or 6, wherein the first message is transmitted for a different length of time than the second message.

8. The method of any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the unused portion comprises a subchannel, wherein the traffic is allocated to the subchannel in the RU for a time before the unused portion is scheduled to occur.

9. The method of any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the traffic comprises at least one of uplink messages and downlink messages.

10. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a first Access Point (AP), an invitation from a second AP that has reserved a channel for a period of time to share an unused portion of the channel for the period of time;

retaining a sub-portion during the unused portion, wherein the sub-portion begins after the beginning of the time period and ends at or before the end of the time period; and

traffic associated with the first AP is assigned to the subdivision.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising at least one of:

transmitting a downlink message to the user equipment during the subportion; and

receiving an uplink message from the user equipment during the subportion.

12. The method of claim 10 or 11, wherein the sub-portion is reserved on a partially occupied sub-channel, wherein the sub-portion occupies the following time range in the partially occupied sub-channel: outside the time horizon, the second AP has allocated traffic to the partially occupied sub-channel.

13. The method of any of claims 10 to 12, further comprising:

transmitting a downlink message to the second AP to a first user equipment associated with the first AP, the downlink message being part of the traffic allocated to the sub-portion; and

transmitting the downlink message to the first user equipment in conjunction with the second AP.

14. A method, comprising:

identifying a first Access Point (AP) associated with a first user equipment, wherein the first AP has won contention for a Resource Unit (RU);

identifying a second AP associated with a second user device, wherein the first user device and the second user device are located within an overlapping area served by the first AP and the second AP;

identifying an unused portion of the RU to which the first AP has not scheduled traffic between the first AP and the first user equipment; and

allocating the unused portion to the second AP for communication between the second AP and the second user equipment.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the communication between the second AP and the second user equipment comprises at least one of:

a downlink message from the second AP to the second user equipment; and

an uplink message from the second user equipment to the second AP.

16. The method of claim 14 or 15, wherein RUs won by the first AP are scheduled for over-allocation, wherein the RUs are scheduled for at least one of: a duration longer than the duration requested by the first AP, or a greater number of subchannels than the subchannels requested by the first AP.

17. The method of any of claims 14 to 16, wherein the unused portion comprises a partially occupied sub-channel, wherein the unused portion occupies the following time ranges in the partially occupied sub-channel: outside the time horizon, the first AP has allocated traffic to the partially occupied sub-channel.

18. The method of any of claims 14 to 17, further comprising:

identifying a third AP associated with a third user device, wherein the first user device and the third user device are located within a second overlapping area served by the first AP and the third AP, and wherein a connection between the third AP and the third user device does not support scheduled access; and

transmitting a quiet time period command to at least one of the third AP and the third user equipment identifying a time period for the RU.

19. The method of any of claims 14 to 18, further comprising:

identifying a third AP associated with a third user device, wherein the first user device and the third user device are located within a second overlapping area served by the first AP, the second AP, and the third AP;

identifying a second unused portion of the RU to which the first AP has not scheduled traffic between the first AP and the first user equipment and to which the second AP has not scheduled traffic between the second AP and the second user equipment; and

assigning the second unused portion to the third AP for communication between the third AP and the third user equipment.

20. The method of any of claims 14 to 19, further comprising:

identifying a third AP associated with a third user device, wherein the first and third user devices are located within a second overlapping area served by the first and third APs but not the second AP; and

allocating the unused portion to the third AP for communication between the third AP and the third user equipment.

21. An apparatus, comprising:

means for reserving, by a first Access Point (AP), a Resource Unit (RU) for use in an environment that includes an overlapping region served by the first AP and a second AP;

means for allocating traffic between a first user equipment and the first AP in the RU;

means for sending an invitation to the second AP, the invitation identifying an unused portion of the RU;

means for assigning a sub-portion of the unused portion to the second AP; and

means for transmitting the traffic to the first user equipment during the RU.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising: apparatus for implementing the method according to any one of claims 2 to 13.

23. An apparatus, comprising:

means for identifying a first Access Point (AP) associated with a first user equipment, wherein the first AP has won contention for a Resource Unit (RU);

means for identifying a second AP associated with a second user device, wherein the first user device and the second user device are located within an overlapping area served by the first AP and the second AP;

means for identifying an unused portion of the RU to which the first AP has not scheduled traffic between the first AP and the first user equipment; and

means for assigning the unused portion to the second AP for communication between the second AP and the second user device.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, further comprising means for implementing the method of any of claims 15-20.

25. A computer program, computer program product or computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the steps of the method of any one of claims 1 to 20.